I'm submerged with ache, angst, and turmoil. I have to breathe, but it is hurting: my lungs fight against this invisible fist constricting them. An inner war in my chest makes me suffocate. After a few seconds, I understand that I'm not the one lacking air. Elijah has to respire, but he is just unable to focus.

Close your eyes and concentrate. Remember all the time you were able to soothe him before; the only dissimilarity is that you're not near him.

Breathe, Elijah. You don't leave me. That's a fucking Alpha directive.

I feel like all the chains restraining me shatter, and air fills my lungs again. Then, after a few seconds, Elijah breathes again, his heart thumping again with an average pace, his panic vanishing, substituted by his usual fearlessness and will to fight for his ideals.

"Are you okay, Liv?". I hear Kate's voice, not as confident as usual. I look at her, and I can answer. It's like the words are stuck in my throat.

"Are you okay, Liv? Is everything okay?" She seems to freak out. I see an emotion I've never seen before in her eyes: submission.

"I have to go. Eli is injured: he needs me. I must go and locate him: something is not right out there. You stay inside and lock yourself and the kids: you don't open the door until someone you trust asks you to do it, are we clear, Kate?" She is about to respond, but I stop her.

"You remain here with the kids. That's an order, Kate."

I realize that a sturdy growl comes out of my throat: that does not sound like my voice. I must be impacted by Alec's rank even if I am human after all: that would explain the mind-linking, the jealousy, and urges. Alec's aura must surround me because he is my mate. That makes sense.

"Just be careful, Liv." She says with her adorable voice. I nod and hug her.

"I love you, Kate. I promise I'll be on your back for more decades. Just stay safe." My voice is back to normal. We really need to find how it works so I don't scare everyone when I'm too emotional.

"Go save your brother. And don't die."

She goes back inside the room and seals the door behind her.

I sprint through the basement corridors right to the door I closed earlier to protect the kids. If I go out, it means the door will no longer be locked: if one of our attackers gets his way here, he will be only a few steps from the safe room. I hope I don't make a mistake. I wish I could stay here, but I feel like Elijah has a hard time.

Just go. It's time, Olivia. You'll think later; just act for the Moon's sake.

My heart wails, and my instincts run riot as I stay behind this shut door. I can do it; I feel it. My whole body howls for me to join this battle the best I can.

I take profound inspiration and unlock the door carefully before I open it. The corridor is empty: no enemies but still no guards who got the chance to come back and protect the place. I can hear screams upstairs, and I apprehend that it's going to be a little more complicated than the embushed runs we used to have during workout: this time, the hitches are wolves whose only desire is to break my neck.

I close the doorway behind me: even if it is not locked, the rogues may ignore it if they arrive there.

Now, it is time, Olivia.I climb the stairs as fast as possible, focusing on my main objective: Elijah. But, once I am at the top, my heart stops at the scene: I was not prepared to face the truth.

There is blood everywhere on the floor in the once upon a time shining hall. Red stains coat the tiles and the walls: it looks like a poor taste gore movie scene. No matter what happened here, it was sickly violent. The smell of blood is obnoxious. But no bodies. This room is corpses-free.

Nevertheless, I can assess that some wolves are badly injured, maybe about to perish: I truly hope none of my people is one of them.

Olivia, you have to move. You can't stay here. You'll be fine, I swear to you.

This unknown force causes me to move, and I traverse the hall to reach the front door - more precisely, what's left of it. The scene outside smashes my heart: this battlefield is absolute chaos, and I realize how bad the situation is. Unfortunately, it is not singly Elijah who has a hard time. All of my pack is having a challenging moment despite the lycans' backup.

Outside, the whole world seems to be burning up. With blood. Lycans and wolves fight each other, hair flying away with a rain of red liquid. The iron smell is filling the air. The place has never been so loud, loaded with all possible sounds that a wolf can make. Howling, growling, groaning, whining... How is that possible?

Eli, where are you? Tell me you're fine...

He is not answering me, but I can sense that he is better and busy with fighting in my guts. It's like I can picture him fighting: my ferocious brother and his wolf are back to the top.

I let a breath out, an inner smile dancing on my face. At least, he listened to me.

I scan the surroundings: four lycans are assisting a light brown wolf: they tear two filthy brown wolves apart, limbs after limbs. I know this wolf by heart: my mother. Except for some scratches, she looks good. Great, I hope she'll stay with these lycans: they're efficient.

Elijah, they went after Julie. They stopped me from following her, and they are so many pushing to enter the packhouse. I can't leave. Someone needs to look for her and help her.

That's my mum's voice. I hear my mum's voice. How is that even possible? Can I link with all our pack members? Why has it never happened before? Is that some survival instinct?

Well, it seems someone decided to answer my question. I can hear everybody right now as Eli must be fully linked to everybody in order to win this battle. I don't recognize the voice, but I'm sure it's one of our pack warriors.

They surround the whole place, and they're everywhere in the woods; we can't go after her quickly. So what do we do, Alpha?

Elijah is not answering them. I know he is busy, but he has to give orders.

Anyway, I can't wait and think. I have to find something to do. I can't let Julie be killed without doing anything. So I take a deep and long breath and close my eyes in the middle of this battlefield.

A lot of scents come to my nose: Cherries. Julie smells like cherries. I try to find Julie's scent among all wolves: some smell like hell, some smell like home. The lycans also have a specific scent. And it hits me: there are other wolves; not all our enemies are rogues. Rogues and clans have made alliances...

After a few moments, I can catch her smell. Her cherry smell is still powerful, so she is alive and not about to die. I start to run to get to her: I only have to act like a tracking dog looking for an earthquake victim.

The grassy field around the packhouse never seemed as big as today: I feel like a toddler in the middle of a giant football field. Yet, even though I have to cross a land full of fighting wolves, I feel pretty confident: stamina controls me, and I act mechanically, just like some kind of programmed robot.

You're doing great; keep on running. I deal with the rest.

I feel a wolf brushing my back as I am running, but another large blond one is bouncing on his chest to push them away from me: I'm almost sure Sam just saved my life. I'm basically certain I identified his eyes.

I keep on racing. Excitement is rushing through my veins as I approach the woods. All these moans of pain, groans, and growls of violence are burning inside my guts, my body is in fever: I feel like all clarity is leaving me again. It's like I can feel the misery that surrounds me and that it makes me lose my sanity. That's even worse than with Amber.

Finally, I reach the woods and what is going on here is far worse than what happens in the garden. It seems like the watches and training finally were good things. But, still, the scene is shattering my last confetti of lucidity.

Several wolves are lying on the ground. I recognize some of them: Some are about my parents' age; Others were with me at school. Some have turned back to human forms, probably hoping they could heal faster. But some of them are seriously injured, and it's probably already too late. Everything gets blurred. My eyes fill with tears and my body with anger.

My mind can't think anymore: Should I stop and help them? How could I even help them? I'm no doctor. I don't do anything but organize, plan, talk: nothing to help my people fighting and dying in front of my eyes. I feel so useless. The useless, weak, and futile human of the pack that presumed she could assist in this wolf battle. I'm turning around and around, looking at the branches, completely lost.

Please, listen to me, Olivia. You're stronger than you think.

This voice in me, I wish I could listen to it. But the vision of horror paralyzes me. The whole world seems to spin around me, and I am about to fall on the ground when suddenly, I detect sole eyes looking at me.

I stare at a lycan's eyes: he is staring at me and jumps above my head. He grabs another wolf by his throat, and I get covered with blood. I'm fully coated with blood. In chock, I look at the lycan, and I can recognize these blue eyes between all existing blue eyes. Jackson just saved my life.

Liv, what the hell are you doing here?

I can feel that Jackson is angry. Surprisingly it makes me... furious. Who does he think he preaches? He should be a little bit more respectful. Wait, what the hell am I saying? He just saved my ass. Still, he was disrespectful.

You go back home right now. It's too dangerous out there. Alec is...

"I'm sorry, Jackson," I say, whispering.

"I'm the only one who can help Julie right now. Just go and defend our people, Jackson." My husky voice is back, almost growling at the poor Jackson.

Before he reacts, I just start to fly again to Julie. I sneak between the wounded wolves, the dead cadavers, the broken branches, the trampled bushes, and the enormous trunks that seemed the only ones to stand unchanged despite the fights.

As I run, I see four wolves and a lycan fighting. I hide under a fallen trunk. My heart is beating far too fast. I don't even know how it can be possible. I try to relax and breathe again. And again. But my heart beats so fast I nearly feel like I have two different heartbeats fighting under my breasts.

Then, finally, I smell it. The scent I was looking for.

Julie's aroma.

She must be close as her odor is getting stronger and stronger. I keep on running faster than ever before. If I save her, Elijah will be free of any worry. I've never noticed how thick the woods are; how numerous the trees are in this part of the forest. The short minutes that I've spent outside seem to be hours long. And, finally, there she is. She is back to her human form, sitting against a tree. I run to her.

"Julie, I'm here. Are you okay ?" I just kneel beside her and hug her like never before. I realize how frightened I was to lose her: that explains the rush of adrenaline that flows in my veins. I quickly check her: she's got some nasty bruises on her head - some blood is running down her face - but she is okay.

"I'm fine, Liv. But what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the safe room." She is yelling at me. They really need to be careful with the way they address me. It truly gets on my nerves, and it even pisses me a lot.

Two wolves are getting nearer to us.

The first one grabs my right arm with his jaw: his wild fur smells like death - a rogue. I scream at the pain as his teeth reach my bones that crack under the pressure of the rogue's teeth. Then, as he pulls me away from Julie, I take the knife I took earlier to my brother's desk and stab the wolf right in the neck. He lets go of my arm and howls in pain: the smell of burnt enters my nose as the wolf's wound reacts to the silver.

You're perfect, Olivia. Keep fighting; you're brilliant. I'm almost there.

Who the hell is talking to me? I can't match this voice with a familiar face. That's a woman for sure.

I don't think too much and quickly take back the silver blade before stabbing the wolf, who is now turning to his human form. Without a drop of remorse, I pierce him right in the chest, straight in the heart. After a few seconds of agony, he stops subsisting. I killed him, but I can't feel sorry. I protected the Luna of the Pack I grew up in.

I get up and turn to Julie.

The second wolf is ready to catch her when a giant wolf jumps between Julie and the enemy. I could recognize this blooming flower scent even miles away. He is no wolf but a lycan. My deep black giant lycan with the darkest green eyes I've ever seen. As he sees me, flashes of shiny green appear quickly before his eyes turn deep black again. Alec and his wolf just saved Julie.

The last standing hostile wolf takes a few steps back and merely starts howling. Alec still looks at him without a blink of an eye. Four more wolves appear after a few seconds: contrary to the two other wolves, these ones feel good. They belong to a pack for sure, and I don't understand why they attack us. They attempt to jump on Alec... And they succeed.

I can undoubtedly not help him with my little silver knife, and Julie is too injured to battle the wolves.

"Alec." I wish I could scream, but there is only this one murmured word that gets out of my mouth.

Julie peeks at me, and her look changes: incredulity is now filling her gaze. I don't have a moment to ask anything: I feel like my whole body howls in pain and anger as I see my mate trying to fight four wolves. I wish I could do better; I wish I was more decisive to support my mate. Tears are coming into my eyes, my chest tenses, and my heartbeats now ache my fragile body as they are too snappy. I can feel my blood boiling through my veins. The pain is so excruciating: I'm certain I'm about to faint. I'm down on the soil; my vision blurs before it all gets dark.

Hold on, my brave pup.